Backlog April 2022 part 1

This artist is Corn Suk Mei Ho. She is a local artist who is based in England (?) I believe. I came across her show by random while I was strolling around Tsim Tsa Tsui. It was during April, so I am assuming this was during the time when I was on Easter vacation. We had about 2 weeks off, and I was trying to find things to do. I don't remember what prompted me to go on this walk, but here I was, and I was happy to come across this show because I really liked her work. It had reminded me of some of David Hockney's works and maybe a little Monet. I was a big fan of her still life paintings of the flora and the dogs.

The one below was my favorite. The pricing for the piece was honestly very fair, and I felt like I could have invested in it, but what is the point if you don't have the wall space for it.

The pieces above and below, I was surprised to see during the affordable art fair during the month of August. This was four month after I saw the show during April, and I thought these pieces would have been sold. It was nice to see them again, and I hope they have found a new place during the art fair.

 

The only MTR station's in Hong Kong with no barriers at the moment are the ones in the east rail line. I took the line all the way to Sheung Shui, which is pretty much the outskirts of Hong Kong. You can access China through this station, so it shows how close I was to the border of China. I had once passed over to Shen Zhen with my friend through this passageway. It kind of feels like when you go through immigration when you are trying to get to Macau. Unfortunately I don't think many of us has been able to access Macau for about 3 years now. It would be nice to be able to visit that place again.

I didn't have a very solid plan when I had arrived here in Sheung Shui. My objective was to do something active, so I had jogged my way to one of the more northern areas of Hong Kong. There was supposed to be a wetland at my destination, so I was somewhat excited about seeing nature and wild life. But...

As I was passing by this area I stopped to take some photos. I thought the storefront looked nice so I was balancing myself to take a few shots, and then a duo of overprotective canines decided to harass me by barking me to death. I got my photo, but man was I annoyed by those semi feral beasts.

So I had arrived I had thought. Everything should be fine now I had thought...

And... I was rejected from entering the premises. The security guard mentioned that if you wanted to enter this area you were required to get a permit. In order to get the permit you had to write a formal letter to the government, and then after getting their reply you had to apply to the World Wide Fund and get their approval as well. After all of these procedures were met, only then could you get the certificate to enter the premises... I was flabbergasted. After an hour jog all the way here from the station only to be rejected. It also made me realize how protected this area was from casual tourists. I mean I was intrigued, but I wasn't passionate enough to apply for the proper forms. As I was dejectedly walking back to the main road I passed by a couple who looked rather prepped to be shooting some amazing photos. I felt obliged to ask them about the experience inside the wetland park, because they seemed like they were prepared. They then told me that the park was mainly visited by nature photography enthusiasts, and that most of the people visiting are here for this objective. I was pretty satisfied with the response because I immediately felt like I was not missing out on much, but I also felt like it was nice to know that there are people and organizations out there who are protecting the wildlife, but also enjoying the artistry of it. 

The vinyl(?) plastic molds of Sailormoon's bum and Crayon Shin Chan's Weiner were how this day had started. I had gotten off Kwai Fong station to go on yet another long walk (which may become a theme for this month). I'm not sure what happened to the photos, but on this day I got injured. I had taken the wrong path and I ended up in some random area which was pretty much the highway. I had thought to myself that as long as I can walk through the stairs, which clearly state that it is barred from common pedestrians, I would be able to find a clear opening of a road. No. I was wrong. Everything above and beyond were fenced off and I was unable to find any excuse of a gap. There was one, but it had required me to crawl through the fence. In hind sight this was the best option but instead Mr. Smarty pants I decided to climb over a wall with barbed wired. The climb was okay. I was able to do it, but the decent was not. As I was trying to jump down, my clothe got caught and I landed a bit awkwardly. I landed on all fours, but all fours were pretty damaged. I was lucky because just 10 steps away there was a hospital, and as I was trying to wipe my wounds an angel of a nurse (male, not female unfortunately) had decided to pass onto me his alcoholic sanitizer for my wounds. I mean the interaction happened in the male bathroom, but heck, nonetheless I had nothing but thanks for the bro. I cleaned up my wounds, bought some oversized bandaged over the counter, and then proceeded to patch myself up. I had a bit of a bone bruise on my left knee, which prevented me from running, but in about a week I was okay. Deep down inside I was worried that I had some sort of fracture, but I was alright. For now...😔  

Gotta be careful.

Not sure how I got here, but this here is Kowloon Park. It may have been on the same day when I had gotten injured. This area here has a flock of flamingo birds that chill out in the park. It's strange to see flamingoes in Hong Kong and it is also strange to realize that they don't seem to ever fly away, but I guess they have been somewhat domesticated. Maybe they got used to the local cuisine.  

This must have been the next day. Maybe my injuries were not fully healed, but I believe my legs were still fit enough for a light hike. I remember going on a few hikes up to the peak, but this was the first time going on this hike on my own accord. It wasn't a particularly difficult hike, but I got lost a few times. Throughout the hike I could feel how inter connected this mountain was to this city. I couldn't call it a nature hike, but it was more like an in-between. 

The plaza was really nice a modern. I don't think I had ever remembered the peak this modern looking. Honestly I don't think I remember visiting the peak before it was renovated until this day.

The one Burger King in Hong Kong? I remember seeing plenty around my neighborhood in Korea, but in Hong Kong Burger King is a specialty. (Not that I care much about it...)

The pictures above and below were the views that I was able to capture while I was up on the observatory. Nothing too special when compared to other observation points, but this one was one of the original vantage points for tourists visiting Hong Kong. 

From the image above I believe that was Pok Fu Lam reservoir. It was a nice little moment for me because Pok Fu Lam is where my history of Hong Kong had started. The Monopoly dude sculpture below just creeped me out.

Somehow I had made it to Causeway Bay. I think my legs brought me here because I had wanted to see the sunset. If I can recall correctly I believe the descent from the peak had brought me here as well.

I was actually quite surprised at the harbor front area which started from Hong Kong University station, all the way to maybe Taikoo Shing? It felt very contemporary and modern because of the interesting installations that were spread across the harbor. The last time I walked along the harbor, the only memorable areas were Admiralty because of its park and Wan Chai because of the sculptures dedicated to the comic book artists of Hong Kong. Now it seemed like an area that had a pretty consistent rotation of interesting creative projects, and it was a great place to chill out whether it be day time or night time.

Another new day, and another new hike. If I can remember correctly I had wanted to hike from the peak and then walk my way down to Pok Fu Lam. Last time I went to the peak I was not able to see the park that was always featured in the internet. I was glad that I made the effort this time, because it was nothing like I had ever seen before. 

During my 20 and over years of life in Hong Kong, I was not sure why I had never come across this beautiful garden. I was bitten by the travel bug when I was in my mid 20's back in Korea, and in hind sight I would have loved to have been into travelling when I was still in school back in Chicago. I never learnt to drive, but at the least I could have taken advantage of the Amtrak or Greyhound. Silly me. I was still to naïve and young. My mind was too small to understand the vastness of the world.

Somehow made it down to Pok Fu Lam. I had never realized how close I was to the peak as a child. I used to live around this neighborhood as a child, so this area is very familiar with me. 

A friend had called me over to smoke some shisha right about when I was done with the hike. It was somewhat past lunch time, but it was also close to tea time. I'm not a big shisha fan, but I joined anyways because the two week Easter holiday felt so long especially when all of my activities were spent alone.

I'm not sure how I got here judging by the photos above and below. I think I must have split off with my friends, after the shisha, and then somehow walked my way over to Kowloon Tong area.

I somehow made it to Kwun Tong's harbor area. I remember buying some of those Seven Eleven high alcoholic content lemon sour drinks and drinking them away as the sun was setting. 

The pieces of artwork above and below. I have no Idea how I came across them. I just cannot recollect my memories on how I came across them. It could have been Hqueen's, and because this was during the time when the Covid restrictions were still pretty strict over here, so this may have been the only show that was available. 

I remember making my way to this gallery because I was unaware that there were private galleries located around Wan Chai. This show was one of the main reasons why I had made my way into the city in the first place. I really liked the cute aesthetics of these spray painted creatures.

What is this, where am I... Oh right I was at Aberdeen. Honestly it was a pretty random decision, but I do have an inkling of an idea that I must have decided to come here after the hike to the peak. Maybe I was trying to connect the Pok Fu Lam hike with this one? I used to live in Aberdeen as well, but I had never been on any hikes around the neighborhood. This was my first time hiking anywhere around Aberdeen so it felt interesting.

Getting from Aberdeen to here was easy, but going once more? Captain please! Yep, I just had to keep moving on this day. 

I thought I should stop around Tai Tam but as soon as I saw the sea I wanted to carry on. According to Google Maps I was not too far away from an area called Cape D'Aguilar, so that was my next destination.

Beach bonus. I'm not much of a beach person, nor do I like water sports much, but the sensation of stopping by the seaside is always a pleasure.

After jogging for about 2 hours under the sun I had made it to the cape.

It may not seem much in the photos, but when the rocks are encircling you and all the sounds around you are echoing, and the roaring waves are thundering towards you, the feeling of excitement and awe builds up pretty quickly.

When reflecting on this trip, I really think to myself that this may have been one of my top picks for travel destinations around Hong Kong. It really was unbelievable. I almost forgot that I was in Hong Kong.

Not too long later some of my friends contacted me to go hiking around the Cape area. The hike was on Dragon's Back, which is a pretty popular hike in Hong Kong. I guess you can say that this is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Hong Kong. I'm also pretty sure that I have written about this hike in my previous journals, but hey, it never gets old for me.

The real bonus during this trip were the paragliders. I went paragliding once in my life when I was in Korea, and that was an interesting experience. I haven't been able to find that kind of spice in my travel log for a while, but maybe when Covid is no longer relevant, maybe I will be able to find that same kind of adventure again.

After the hike we cabbed it to Stanley. I think we ate in one of the Italian(?) restaurants, but heck, in Hong Kong when you say Italian restaurant it practically means Western meal. I mean you enter the restaurant thinking that you will order a pizza, but the next thing you know you got yourself a Thai curry and an Asahi beer.